Direct Discoveries
by PrettyFanGirl
Summary: Prev. written by SwEEtiEPiE110468. L,J,S,&R find the 7th Harry Potter book. Features Over-protective Lily, angry James, Insane Sirius, Blushing Remus, and Baby Harry guest stars! Rated for safety in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: First Six Chapters written by SwEEtiEPiE110468, and J.K. Rowling, so no, I _literallly_ don't own anything until Chapter Seven, then it's only half of it. /sigh/...

**Chapter One: The Dark Lord Ascending**

Lily Potter laid her 6 month old son, Harry, in the crib James, her husband, had conjurned for him. Harry gurgled happily as he grabbed his stuffed dragon and began to chew on it's tail. She smiled weakly. Dumbledore had graciously aloud them to stay in the castle for the summer while he looked for a place of safety. Voldemort was more determined day by day for their family's lives, and Dumbledore was curtain he would come after them if he found of their whereabouts, and so, until then, they stayed in the safest place available. Hogwarts.

They stayed in the Room of Requirement, seeing as Gryffindor tower could not provide what was needed at thought. Sirius and Remus, their two best friends, had been over every single day, in fact, mostly they to slept here at night, but the order of the phoenix sometimes required help and called them away for a week or more.

Lily gently ruffled her sons wispy hair and went to join her husband on the couch. Remus was on a cozy chair reading the prophet, his feet propped on the table. Sirius was spread out on the loveseat, his hands behind his head.

Just as she sat down Remus spoke from behind the prophet. "Another muggle family was found dead this week, and 2 missing aurors were found dead..." He spoke with a heavy voice and crumbled up the news paper and tossed it into the fire. His news was answered with a chorus of groans.

"Everyone's going missing these days, remember when they reported Lily and James missing? Everyone is going into hiding its hard to know which is which." Sirius said running his hand over his face.

"Yes." Said Lily, "But we're alive" she spoke grimly as though the words were heavy on her tongue and hard to say. No one replied at all, but all knew what each was thinking ' for now'.

A long pause followed this statement, and James cast a glance at his son who had rolled on his back and was now wrestling the stuffed dragon , and James chuckled as he saw the stuffed dragon was winning. James however sighed. "I wish there was just something that could tell us what will happen to us, I don't care what it is, just as long as I know what becomes of us all. Were we end up."

As James finished the last of this sentence, an orange light appeared in the middle of the table, making Remus jump and his legs to fall off their placing. Everyone jumped to there feet and pointed there wand at the object that now laid before them. It was a book.

Every one of them saw the title printed in red letters, and the boy reaching towards the sky, but no one dared touch it. Shock overwhelmed them as the older face of Harry Potter looked up from the cover.

Remus was the first to lower his wand, and slowly picked up the large book. Turning it over and over in his hands. No one said anything about the man on the back cover, because they all knew who it was, and no one wanted to admit that his hand was reaching for Harry. Remus studied the book in silence.

"Should we read it?" He asked suddenly, making everyone jump. James looked at Lily and she nodded approval.

"I want to know why my son has a book about him," was her only reply as she sat down hugging a pillow to her chest. James sat beside her, rapping a protective arm around her.

"So" said Sirius "Who will read first?"

Remus sat down. "I will" He said, turning the book over in his hands one last time.

"Wait" Said James, "Who wrote this?".

Remus looked down at the name at the bottom of the book. "J.K. Rowling" He said, slightly confused by the name, for it was one he had never heard of. Sirius sat up.

"Who's that? Some sort of seer or something?" He asked. Remus shrugged, for he had no clue.

Lily seemed to ponder about this. "I haven't heard of her, should we ask Dumbledore?"

James shook his head. "No. We needn't worry him about this, he has enough on his plate as it is, with the Order, Voldemort, the Minister and the ministry itself, its a wonder he hasn't gone mad." He said, looking at the book with interest, the boy on the cover resembled him very much, except the boy had softer features in his face...

Remus cleared his throat, gaining the lost attention and read clearly from the cover _"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" _Lily perked up at the word deathly but James beat her to it "What is a Deathly Hallow, you don't think Voldemort created some new kind of weapon...do you?" Worry etched into his voice, Deathly was one word he never wanted to hear on the cover of a book about his son.

Remus shrugged. "We can only read and find out." He said this as he flipped open the book. _"We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter" _

2 voices spoke out at once.

"Epic!"

"Seventh?"

Remus looked up, Lily had obviously said Epic, and James had said 7th, but James spoke before Lily did. "You mean there are MORE books? Wait, that means that he is in his 7th year at Hogwarts."

Everyone looked at him.

James rolled his eyes and pointed to the binder. "Look 7th year. That means that he is safe, I mean there will never be a more safer place than Hogwarts."

Everyone nodded and Lily directed her question. "Epic? What does she mean Epic, what's so epic about my babie's life?!" She sounded almost hysterical and Sirius stifled a chuckle.

"Chill Lil's, they got to sell this book some how." Sirius said with a small smile, she sent him a warning look and waved at Remus to start.

Remus smiled and opened the book, Flipping slowly through the pages. "Whoa." He said, staring at the page he had flipped to. "What?!" James, Lily, and Sirius chorused, not liking the fact that it was the only word their friend had chosen. "Guys," Remus said slowly "This book was written in 2007."

Sirius jumped to his feet. "No way!" He looked over Remus' shoulder and read the same small printed numbers in the copyright and he too saw the numbers 2007. Lily and James joined them and James whistled low. "Damn, did you guys know that this room could produce things from the future?" No one spoke, and they slowly returned to their seats. Remus tore his gaze from the copyright page and continued flipping till he found chapter one.

"Damn this picture is freaky" He said, showing everyone, they all knew who it was, and everyone shuddered. "What is he doing in my sons book?" Lily whispered, and James squeezed her shoulder tightly before Remus started reading.

"_Chapter One: The Dark Lord Ascending"_

Lily scowled at the words Remus spoke. "What is she getting at. My son better not be their or so help all who cross my path." She gripped her wand tightly. James rapped his arm tighter around her. "Lily he wouldn't be there, we wouldn't raise him like that." Lily lessened her grip on her wand but she did not let go of it.

Remus took this as his queue and continued reading.

_The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests: then, recognizing each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction._

"Who are they?" James wondered out loud. Remus looked up and cast him a annoyed glance. "Well we can't know until you stop talking." He said. James smiled sheepishly and Remus (with an annoyed huff) continued reading.

"_News?" asked the taller of the two._

"_The best," replied Severus Snape. _

Sirius let out a low growl. "_Snape_" he spat the name like it was a mouthful of dirt. "What's _he_ doing in this book."

James had a deep frown on his face and Remus was looking between them like a tennis match.

Lily sighed. She didn't understand why James and Sirius hated Severus so much, but they did, and hearing the name they despised most wasn't very comforting.

Remus cleared his throat before Sirius got out of control and continued on.

_The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched._

Sirius was sitting up a bit straighter. "What are they up to..."

"_Thought I might be late," -_

"For what? Your master;s meeting?" James growled. But no one spoke after him, wanting to hear what was going on.

_-Said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of the overhanging trees broke the moonlight. _

"Yaxley? Wasn't he that 1st year Slytherin in 4th year that tried to cast Crucio on Matthews? But no one had enough proof?" Lily asked.

Remus nodded. "And then in 6th year when he tried to rig James' broom so that he couldn't catch the quaffle. He got serious detention for that, and he wasn't allowed to set foot on the Quiddech field again."

"Oh yes" said James, his face darkening "I remember Yaxley"

"_It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?" _

James cursed under his breath. "I knew it. Deatheater's. I was just hoping I was wrong..."

Lily frowned. Her husband had a point.

Remus, however, wanted to find out what would happen, so he quickly kept on reading.

_Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that lead off lane. The high hedge curving with them, running off into the distance and beyond the pair of impressive wrought-iron gates barring the men's way. Neither of them broke step: in silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as though the dark metal were smoke._

"What are they doing with what seems to be a very expensive and luxurious headquarters? Last time I heard they were in a graveyard." James scoffed, not liking how they seemed to have stepped up.

Sirius shrugged with a sour look on his face as Remus read on.

_The yew hedges muffles the sound of the men's footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right: Yaxley drew his wand again, pointing it over his companion's head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure-white peacock, strutting majestically along the top of the hedge._

Sirius in turned scoffed. But Remus ignored it and kept reading.

"_He always did himself well, Lucius.-_

"WHAT!" Sirius bellowed in rage at the name, continuing to yell in a string of curse words that made Harry look up from his dragon and stair at his godfather in confusion.

"SIRIUS!" Lily yelled, surprised and angered at him for bursting out like that. She never liked Lucius but she would never yell like that in front of Harry.

Sirius quieted but glared at the book as though the name was an unforgivable curse that had been placed on his friends.

"Mate, what the ruddy hell was that about?" James said, glancing at Harry who had lost interest and was playing with his toys again.

"That bloody bastard, he's almost as bad as Bellatrix, got himself right up in the ministry he has, its a miracle he hasn't been caught yet! With all the deatheater activity going on in his family its only a bloody matter of time, He is the one who 'mentioned' it to my family I was in Gryffindor. He's the one who 'mentioned' to kick me out of the house. He's the one who thought it best to get me wiped off my family tree. Not that I mind I hated that ruddy family. But I hate him most of all. Every since he married Narcissa..." Sirius trailed off and no one spoke.

Remus slowly continued on, hoping that Lucius would not be mentioned again.

"_-Peacocks..."Yaxley thrust his wand back under his cloak with a snort._

_A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, light glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and Yaxley sped toward the front door, which swung inward at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it. _

It was Lily's turn to scoff. And everyone looked at her in surprise. She looked at them in turn. "Oh come on, that's just a little much."

James chuckled. "Says the girl who wanted dancing snowman, swan sculptures, real snow, and icicles at the snow ball in 7th year."

Lily made a face at him and Remus laughed as he read the next paragraph.

_The hallway was large, dimly lit, and sumptuously decorated, with magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the walls followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past. The two men halted at the heavy wooden door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Snape turned the bronze handle._

Everyone sucked in their breath. "Here we go..." Sirius breathed, as though he and not Snape had turned the handle.

_The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting as a long and ornate table. The room's usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror. Snape and Yaxley lingered for a moment on the threshold. A their eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light, they were drawn upward to the strangest feature of the scene: and apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table, revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope, and reflected in the mirror and in the bare, polished surface of the table below. None of the people seated underneath this singular sight was looking at it except for a pale young man sitting almost directly below it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upward every minute or so._

Lily shook her head. "I feel horrible for the person who is above the table there."

Everyone nodded.

"_Yaxley. Snape," said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. "You are very near late."_

Lily shuddered. "I don't know why he is in my child's book but I want him out of it."

James nodded. "I'm sure Harry has nothing to do with him. His only a child after all."

Sirius remained quite. He to did not know why this book would start off with something so much as a Deatheater meeting. Let alone with Voldemort's picture.

Remus didn't know what to say. And he continued reading, hoping and praying to Merlin that Harry wasn't there. And had nothing to do with this meeting.

_The speaker was seated directly in front of the fireplace, so that it was difficult, at first, for the new arrivals to make out more than his silhouette. As they grew nearer, however, his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snakelike, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical. He was so pale that her seemed to emit a pearly glow._

Everyone shuddered.

"I'd hate to be the person who faces him." Remus said with an extra shudder.

"Red eyes, Snakelike, last time I checked he was human, and didn't have red eyes." Sirius said with a disgusted face. But worry was lying just behind his eyes. Because this was Harry's book, and Voldemort was in it.

"_Severus, here," said Voldemort, indicating the seat on his immediate right. "Yaxley-beside Dolohov."_

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "I wonder what little Snivelly did to become Voldemort's right-hand man."

_The two men took their allotted places. Most of the eyes around the table followed Snape, and it was to him that Voldemort spoke first._

Remus paused, looking up expecting Sirius or James to comment. However, when they didn't, he quickly lowered his head and read on.

"_So?"_

"_My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move-"_

Remus stopped mid-sentence, staring at the name just in this middle of the sentence.

"Who? What? Remus don't you dare stop reading!" Lily said , grabbing a pillow and getting ready to chuck it at him.

Remus began to sputter but the words he was saying soon became clear.

"_-Harry Potter-"_

Remus stopped reading, James and Sirius blew into a string of curses and names at Snape, and Lily dropped her pillow.

"SHHH!" She said loudly and threw pillows at both of them. "I want to know what my Harry has to do with them. So QUIET!!" She had no concern for Snape and why he betrayed them. But she did know one thing, if Voldemort was after her son, then he was in great danger.

Remus slowly continued to read the book.

"_-from his current place of safety on Saturday next, at nightfall"_

"WHY THAT-"

"SHUT IT SIRIUS!"

_The interest around the table sharpened palpably: Some stiffened, others fidgeted, all gazing at Snape and Voldemort._

"_Saturday...at nightfall," Repeated Voldemort. His read eyes fastened upon Snape's black ones with such intensity that some of the watchers looked away, apparently fearful that they themselves would be scorched with the ferocity of the gaze. Snape, however, looked calmly back into Voldemort's face and, after a moment or two, Voldemort's lipless mouth curved into something like a smile._

"_Good. Very good. and this information comes-"_

"_- from the source that we discussed," said Snape._

"They have a source? It must be from inside the Order..." James concluded out loud.

"How do you know?" Remus asked, looking up from the page.

"Well they couldn't get information unless someone from the Order said something. I mean, unless they used Imperius on someone. But we would know, by their eyes, so obviously there is a traitor..." James explained.

Sirius nodded. "The problem is, who? I mean, Harry is wanted for some reason and it seems they're putting some effort into it, so he did something to get them angry. And who would betray them, well obviously besides Snape."

Lily nodded slowly. "All we can do is read and find out." She said, nodding to Remus who took queue and read on.

"_My Lord."_

_Yaxley had leaned forward to look down the long table at Voldemort and Snape. All faces turned to him. _

"_My Lord, I have heard differently."_

"False trails or multiple plans..." James, again, concluded.

Everyone looked at him again and he rolled his eyes. "Well if Yaxley heard differently, then there must be either multiple plans so that if one fails then there are more to lay back upon, and or they must have put out a false trail or two to confuse the Deatheaters."

"But why does Harry need so much protection?"

"If Voldemort's still alive than we all still need protection." Lily said.

Remus said nothing and continued reading.

_Yaxley waited, but Voldemort did not speak, so he went on, "Dawlish, the Auror, let slip that Potter will not be moved until the thirtieth, the night before the boy turns seventeen."_

"Why are they moving him before 17? Why don't they move him now?" Lily asked, not happy that the Deatheater's knew both plans.

Remus shrugged. "Maybe because he just is being moved then."

"This book his confusing." Sirius said grabbing his hair in mock insanity.

"Padfoot your ALWAYS confused. So why is the book any different?" James asked, only to get smacked in the face with a pillow. He chucked it aside with a laugh and Remus chuckled and kept reading.

_Snape was smiling._

"_My source told me that there are plans to lay a false trail _("Told you")_ This must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time; he is known to be susceptible."_

"_Assure you my Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain," said Yaxley._

"_If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain," said Snape. "I will assure you, Yaxley, the Auror office will play no further part in the protection of Harry Potter.-"_

"And why is that? And what does he mean 'no further part' why does he need so much protection? And what-"

"Calm down Lil's, he's after all of us remember?" James said soothingly.

"Then where are we. What is so important about my son that Voldemort forgot about us!"

"Lily-"

"No! If we're alive than Voldemort should want us, not our son. He did nothing wrong!"

"Lily-"

"No James, something isn't right. Why is it only Harry he wants. Harry did nothing."

"LILY! Let Remus read..." James said calmly.

Lily huffed and Remus found his placing and read on.

"_-The Order believes we have infiltrates the Ministry."_

"_The Orders got one thing right, then, eh?"-_

"NO!" Said Sirius, dramatically falling back across the love seat.

"They can't have infiltrated the Ministry! " Remus yelled at the book.

Lily shook her head. "At least the Order knows that the Ministry is infiltrated..."

"Yes but that means that Voldemort is stronger, and we are weaker." James said.

"At least we have the Order" Lily reasoned, trying to be optimistic.

"Yah but the Order has a trai-"

"SHUT IT SIRIUS! I'm staying positive!"

"Fine. But I'm just trying to point out-"

"Remus, please keep reading."

_-said a squat man sitting a short distance from Yaxley; he gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed here and there along the table._

_Voldemort did not laugh. His gaze had wandered upward to the body revolving slowly overhead, and he seemed to be lost in thought. _

"_My lord," Yaxley want on, "Dawlish believes an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy-"_

_Voldemort held up a large white hand, and Yaxley subsided at once, watching resentfully as Voldemort turned back to Snape._

"_Where are they going to hide the boy next?"_

"_At home of one of the Order," Said Snape. "The place, according to the source, has been given every protection the Order and the Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking him once he is there, my Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest."_

"They can't destroy the Ministry..." Sirius said, not believing it. "It will never fall."

"That is were your wrong mate." Remus said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Lily said.

"You guys said the Ministry can't be infiltrated. And we were wrong. If they got that far, they are close to the Minister, and if the Minister falls..."

"Then everyone will fall with it." James finished.

Remus shook his head and continued.

"_Well, Yaxley?" Voldemort called down the table, the firelight glinting strangely in his red eyes. "Will the Ministry have fallen before next Saturday?"_

_Once again, all heads turned. Yaxley squared his shoulders. _

"Better not" Sirius muttered. Remus glared up from the book and then continued.

"_My Lord. I have good news- _("UHG!")_- On that score. I have- with difficulty, and after great effort- succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse."_

"Will it NEVER end? How could Pius fall to the Imperius curse? After all that training?" James stated loudly.

Lily muttered something and waved a hand at Remus to start reading again.

_Many of those sitting around Yaxley looked impressed; his neighbor, Dolohov, a man with a long, twisted face, clapped him on the back._

"_It is a start," _("Shut down!" "SHUT UP SIRIUS!")_Said Voldemort. "But Thicknesse is only one man. Scrimgeour must be surrounded by our people before I act. One failed attempt on the Ministers life and that will set me back a long way."_

"Good. Fail!" Lily said, crossing her arms and blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

James laughed. He couldn't help it. "Sometimes Lily you say the most immature things..."

"Stuff it. It took you 7 years to grow up."

"No, I just know how to have fun."

"Remus just keep reading."

"Yah I won."

"_Yes-my Lord, that is true-but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down."_

"Well Scrimgeour is a good man. And a good fighter. He would be hard to take down." James said, "After all, he isn't Head of the Auror's office for nothing. Right?"

"Yes, but if they have 30 against one then he will go down none the less." Remus stated.

"But-"

"No. Remus read. Harry's still involved in this."

"_As long as our friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest," Sid Voldemort. "At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the boy at his destination, then it must be done while he travels."_

"_We are at an advantage there, my Lord," Said Yaxley, who seemed determined to receive some portion of approval. "We now have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transportation. If Potter Apparate or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately."_

"Damn..." James cursed under his breath.

"They know this though. The Order, because they know Voldemort's infiltrated the Ministry, so they won't use either, right?" Lily said.

Sirius nodded, "They will use an illegal Portkey or a broomstick."

"Hopefully it won't be broom. After all, Voldemort could take them far to easily." Remus stated. Then quickly read from the page once more.

"_He will not do either," said Snape. "The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place."_

"_All the better," said Voldemort. "He will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far."_

_Again, Voldemort looked up at the slowly revolving body as he went on, "I shall attend to the boy in person-"_

"NO YOU WILL NOT!" Lily cried out. But James put a hand over her mouth and nodded to Remus.

"_-There have been too many mistakes were Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs."_

"What does he mean? Has Harry faced him before?" Sirius asked.

Remus shrugged. "It seems like it. Sounds like Harry's faced him before."

"But how many times?" Lily asked. Worried that her son, not even 17, had met Voldemort face to face.

"It doesn't say." Remus said, skimming the rest of the page.

"Well, if he faced Voldemort before...than that explains why they are so desperate..." Sirius pointed out.

"Well he got away what sounds like numerous times. So this time her may get away too..." James said, glancing at his son who had fallen asleep.

"I hope..."

_The company around the table watched Voldemort apprehensivley, eacho f them, by his or her expression, afraid that they might have be blamed for Harry Potter's continued excistance. Voldemort, However, seemed to be speaking more to himself than to any of them, still addressing the unconcious body above him._

"_I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be."_

"I don't understand..." Lily said, looking at the opposing wall, thinking over the words in her head. She suddenly turned to James. "Why does he have to kill Harry? Since when has Voldemort cared for something so much that he has to attend in person? Not that I want my son killed, but something strange is happening..."

"I agree," Remus said, earning looks of confusion from James and Sirius. " It said that there were things that he hadn't understood before. Luck and chance. It doesn't make sense that Voldemort is chasing Harry like this, after all, Harry is just a boy, Voldemort could get anybody to kill him and he is wasting time chasing Harry? After all, their planning to take down the Ministry. Yet, he is taking planning time to chase a boy?"

"Just keep reading, maybe we will find out what Harry did..." Lily said, though worry was placed in her eyes, and echoed every corner of her voice.

_At these words, seemingly in response to them, a sudden wail sounded, a terrible, drawn-out cry of misery and pain. Many of those at the table looked downward, startled, for the sound had seemed to issue from below their feet._

"Poor fellow, whoever it is..." Remus said shaking his head, then he continued on.

"_Wormtail,-"_

"WHAT?"

"WHO?"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Remus was startled to say the least, and hurried to finish the sentence.

_Said Voldemort, with no change in his quiet, thoughtful tone, and without removing his eyes from the revolving body above, "have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?"_

"No," Said James shaking his head, "No, no, no it can't be Peter."

"Yah, Peter is terrified of Voldemort, he would never work for him." Sirius nodded.

"It's just someone with the same nickname." Remus concluded, then he lowered his head to the book.

"_Yes. m-my Lord," gasped a small man halfway down the table, who had been sitting so low in his chair that at first glance, to be unoccupied. Now he scrambled from his seat and scurried from the room, leaving nothing but a curious gleam of silver._

"Defiantly not Peter." Sirius said.

"Yah..." said Remus.

"_As I was saying," continued Voldemort, looking again at the tense faces of his followers, "I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before i got to kill Potter."_

"Why?"

"SHHHH!"

_The faces around him displayed nothing but shock; he might have announced that he wanted to borrow one of their arms._

"_No volunteers?" said Voldemort. "Let's see...Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore."_

"Oh shut down!"

"SIRIUS SHUT UP!"

_Lucius Malfoy looked up. his skin appeared yellowish and waxy in the firelight, and his eyes were sunken and shadowed. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. _

"_My Lord?"_

"_Your wand, Lucius i require your wand."_

"_I..."_

_Malfoy glanced sideway at his wife. She was staring straight ahead, quite as pale as he was, her long blonde hair hanging sown her back, but beneath the table her slim dingers closed briefly on his wrist. At her touch, Malfoy put his hand into his robes, withdrew a wand, and passed it along to Voldemort, who held it up in front of his red eyes, examining it closely._

"_What is it?"_

"_Elm, my Lord," whispered Malfoy. _

"_And the core?"_

"_Dragon- Dragon Heartstring."_

"_Good." said Voldemort. He drew out his own wand and compared the lengths. Lucius Malfoy made and involuntary movement; for a fraction of a second, it seemed he expected to receive Voldemort's wand in exchange for his own.-_

"Ooooh. That sucks." Sirius said with a little laughter in his voice.

"Yah, Voldemort won't miss that." James said with a little laughter in his voice too.

_-The gesture was not missed by Voldemort, whose eyes widened maliciously._

"_Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?"_

_Some of the throng sniggered._

"_I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you and your family seem less than happy of late... What is it about my presence in your home that displeases you, Lucius?"_

"_Nothing- nothing my Lord.!"_

"_Such lies, Lucius..."_

_The soft voice seemed to hiss on even after the cruel mouth had stooped moving. One or two of the wizards barley repressed a shudder as the hissing grew louder; something heavy could be heard sliding across the floor beneath the table._

"Nagini..."James muttered, his eyes darkening. "I hate that snake...what I wouldn't give to kill that Snake from hell."

"Shhh, James, Let Remus read." Lily comforted him.

_The huge snake emerged to climb slowly up Voldemort's chair. It rose, seemingly endlessly, and came to rest across Voldemort's shoulders; its neck the thickness of a man's thigh; its eyes, with their vertical slits for pupils, unblinking. Voldemort stroked the creature absently with long thin fingers, still looking at Lucius Malfoy._

"_Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is it my return, my rise to power,-"_

"Wait, Return? Rise? What is he talking about?" Lily asked, confused.

"Who defeated him?" James asked.

"We don't know yet. Lets read."

"_-not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?"_

"Years?"

"SHHHH!"

"_Of course, my Lord," said Lucius Malfoy. His hand shook as he wiped sweat from his upper lip. "We did desire it- we do."_

_To Malfoy's left, his wife made an odd, stiff nod, her eyes averted from Voldemort and the snake. To his right, his son, Draco, who had been gazing up at the inert body overhead, glanced quickly at Voldemort and away again, terrified to make eye contact._

"Looks like Draco doesn't want to be there." Sirius mocked.

"This isn't funny Sirius." Lily said.

Sirius shrugged, "They would do the same."

"Oh well. Please read Remus."

"_My Lord," said a dark women halfway down the table-_

"Bellatrix." Sirius growled. "You wait, she's practically in love with Voldemort."

"Eh" Lily made a noise, disgusted.

_-Her voice constricted with emotion, _(told you)_ "It is an honor to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure."_

"Ew." James said, cringing.

"They're all whacked up, sick freaks." Sirius stated, crossing his arms and leaning into the couch.

_She sat beside her sister, as unlike her in looks, with her dark hair and heavily lidded eyes, as she was in bearing and demeanor; where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Bellatrix leaned toward Voldemort, for mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness._

"Okay that's just a little bit disgusting." Said Remus, making a face.

"Well, it's Bellatrix, what did you honestly expect?" Sirius said with a air of ease, for he knew all this already, well, about Bellatrix that is.

"Um, Hmm, I don't know a little bit of sanity." Remus said in mock question.

Everyone laughed, and when they all finished, Remus read on.

"_No higher pleasure," repeated Voldemort, his head tilted a little to one side as he considered Bellatrix. "That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you."_

_Her face flooded with color; her eyes welled with tears of delight._

"_My lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!"_

"_No higher pleasure...even compared with the happy event that, I hear, has taken place in your family this week?"_

_She stared at him, her lips parted, evidently confused._

"_I don't know what you mean, My Lord."_

"_I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the-"_

Remus stopped, and paled, but red started to find its way into his face and he reddened considerably fast.

"What is it?" James said, getting up and prying the book from the stunned hands. He skimmed the page, and started laughing, finishing the sentence for Remus.

"_-She has just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud."_

Sirius smiled widely. "Dude, we're related!"

Remus looked over at Sirius and groaned, falling back against the chair.

Lily giggled and grabbed the book out of James' hands, handing it back to Remus.

"Leave him alone guys, it isn't his fault, besides, who knows, maybe you, Sirius, married someone." Lily defended him.

Sirius scoffed, "Fat chance, I'm Sirius Black Lil's, I don't marry."

"You never know." Lily said. "Remus will you please keep reading."

Remus nodded, still embarrassed.

_There was an eruption of jeering laughter from around the table. Many leaned forward to exchange gleeful looks; a few thumped the table with their fists. The great snake, disliking the disturbance, opened its mouth wide and hissed angrily, but the Death Eaters did not hear is, so jubilant were they at Bellatrix and the Malfoys' humiliation. Bellatrix's face, so recently flushed with happiness, had turned an ugly, blotchy red._

"_She is no niece of ours, my Lord," she cried over the outpouring of mirth. "We- Narcissa and I- have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor any beast she marries."_

"_What say you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, and though his voice was quiet, it carried clearly through the catcalls and jeers. "Will you babysit the cubs?"_

_The hilarity mounted; Draco Malfoy looked in terror at his father, who was staring down into his own lap, then caught his mother's eye. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan stare at the wall._

"_Enough," said Voldemort, stroking the angry snake. "Enough."_

_And the laughter died at once._

"_Many of our oldest family tree's become a little diseased over time," he said as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and imploring. "You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest."_

"_Yes, my Lord," whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. "At the first chance!"_

"_You shall have it," said Voldemort. "And in your family, so in the world...we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain..."_

_Voldemort raised Lucius Malfoy's wand, pointed it directly at the slowly revolving figure suspended over the table, and it gave a tiny flick. The figure came to life with a groan and began to struggle against it's invisible bonds._

"_Do you recognize our guest, Severus?" asked Voldemort. _

"It better not be someone I know." Lily said, gripping her own wand tightly.

She startled everyone for no one had spoken between a sentence for some time.

"I'm sure it isn't." James said.

"Oy, do you want to know what happens to Harry or not? I for one want to finish this chapter and read about Harry." Sirius said.

"This coming from you?" Lily said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes. Now Remus, please read."

"Wow Sirius saying please? That's a-"

"READ!"

_Snape raised his head to the upside-down face. All of the Death Eaters were looking up at the captive now, as though they had been given permission to show curiosity. As she revolved to face the firelight, the woman said in a cracked and terrified voice, "Severus! Help me!"_

" _Ah, Yes," said Snape as the prisoner turned slowly away again._

"Please did you really think he would help you?" Sirius muttered.

"Well obviously she thought it would help." Lily snapped.

" _And you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, stroking the snake's snout with his wand- free hand. Draco shook his head jerkily. Now that the woman had woken, he seemed unable to look at her anymore._

"Coward" Muttered James.

"_But you would not have taken her classes," said Voldemort. "For those of you who don't know, we are joined her tonight by Charity Burbage-"_

"NO!!" Lily groaned.

"Damn." Whispered James.

"What the Hell did she do?" Muttered Sirius. "Oh that's right, all you have to do is be born."

"_-who, until recently, taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."_

_There were small noises of comprehension around the table. A broad, hunched woman with pointed teeth crackled._

"_Yes...Professor Burbage taught the children of witches and wizards all bout muggles...how they are not so different from us..."_

_One of the Death Eaters spat on the floor. Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape again._

"_Severus...please...please..."_

"Honestly, do you think he would help you at all?" Sirius growled, he knew Charity, and she was a great woman, but she could be extremely stupid sometimes.

" _Silence," said Voldemort, with another twitch of Malfoy's wand, and Charity fell silent as if gagged. "Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the purebloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance...She would have us all mate with muggles...or, no doubt, werewolves..._

_Nobody laughed this time: There was no mistaking the anger and contempt in Voldemort's voice. For the third time, Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape. Tears pouring from her eyes into her hair. Snape looked at her, quite impassive, as she turned slowly away from him again_

"_Avada Kedavra"_

_The flash of green light illuminated every corner of the room. Charity fell, with a resounding crash, onto the table below, which trembled and creaked. Several Death Eaters leapt back in their chairs. Draco fell out of his onto the floor._

"_Dinner, Nagini," said Voldemort softly, and the great snake swayed and slithered from his shoulders onto the polished wood._

"That's it." Remus finished.

"That was a dreadful chapter." Lily said slowly.

"Yah, but on the bright side, next chapter is about Harry..." Remus said, holding up the book with the picture of a hand holding a piece of broken glass, reflecting an eye.

Lily reached for the book. "I'm reading next."

Remus smiled grimly and handed over the book. Then Lily cleared her throat and began to read.


	2. In Memorium

Previous notes and Disclaimer:

_A/N__**O. MY. GAWD! You guys are amazing!! Too all who reviewed, you made this Person so happy! Anyway, im sorry that im a horrible speller and that I cant punctuate to save my life. Haha, yes, I'm Horrid. Anyway, I looked over this one a bit more closely. So, it shouldn't be that bad. If it is, than im extremely sorry. Haha, but thank you so much for the awesome reviews!!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any copyright of the Harry Potter series. Yes, I am afraid that was written by J.K. Rowling and that I, sadly, took not one part in the creation. Sighs if I had I'd be living in a mansion right now with a computer that isn't slow and old and I would have a butler named Charles and a personal chef and all those other just dandy things that I don't need. Sadly, I never took part in creating this series and so I don't have a personal chef, unless you count my mom and I don't have a butler named Charles, the only butler I have is my brother...and do you know how hard it is to make him do things? Somewhere along the lines of impossible. sighs I don't own Harry Potter. End of the Line.**_

_**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**_

_**Chapter 2: In Memoriam**_

"_Chapter Two: In Memoriam"_

"What does that mean?" James asked.

"I don't know, like in memory of I think." Remus said, pondering over the title.

"Who died?"

Lily shrugged. "Well if you shut that trap of your we might be able to read now wont we _Sirius_?"

Sirius rolled his eyes but said nothing.

_Harry was bleeding. _

"Oh well that's just a lovely start to a lovely chapter." James said in annoyance. "Why is everything happening to Harry?"

"SHHH!"

_Clutching his right hand in his left and swearing under his breath,_

"Don't swear Harry, even under your breath" Lily lectured to her son, only the fact may be he was in a book.

James and Sirius snickered at this and Remus' mouth seemed to twitch into a small smile.

_-he shouldered open his bedroom door. There was a crunch of breaking china:_

"What?" James asked, not believing he heard right, So Lily repeated the sentence.

"What's with the china outside his door?" Sirius asked.

Lily shrugged and kept reading, not worrying about the oddness of the china.

_He had trodden on a cup of cold tea that had been sitting on the floor outside his bedroom door._

"_What the-?"_

_He looked around; the landing of number four, Privet Drive, was deserted._

"Wait? Were have I heard that before?" James asked, looking at Lily, but Lily's gaze was hardened by the words, and she muttered something.

"What?" Sirius asked leaning forward to hear.

"I said that's were my-sister- lives with here overweight husband and there spoiled monstrous son."

"But what's Harry doing there? We can't have sent him there for holiday, right?" James said, not liking how so far, there names, not once, had been mentioned.

"We must be doing something for the Order" Lily concluded, then she read the next sentence.

_Possibly the cup of tea was Dudley's idea of a clever booby trap. Keeping his bleeding hand elevated, Harry scraped the fragments of cup together with the other hand and threw then into the already crammed bin just visible inside his bedroom door. Then he tramped across to the bathroom to run his finger under the tap._

_It was stupid, pointless, irritating beyond belied that he still had four days left of being unable to perform magic...-_

Sirius laughed, "Remember mate how you were nearly pulling your hair out at this."

James threw a pillow, hitting him in the face.

"OY!" Sirius yelled, chucking it back. Though James, laughing, had expected this and dodged it easily.

Sirius prepared to throw another until Lily got up and smacked them both upside the head, than sat down and kept reading, receiving glares from her husband and his best mate.

_-but he had to admit to himself that this jagged cut in his finger would have defeated him. He never learned how to repair wounds, and now he came to think of it- particularly in light of his immediate plans-_

"Wait, what _plans_?" Sirius said, his eyes narrowing

Remus had to admit this was a little bit odd, the only plans they knew where Voldemort's, and Harry's who was to be moved, but apparently he had more that Voldemort knew not.

Lily sighed. "Maybe the Order has other plans for him." She said, though she didn't believe this herself.

James nodded, "Yah." Though no one wanted to admit this was not in anyway likely, because being James' son, they knew he was up to more than what the Order was likely to do for him.

_-this seemed a serious flaw in his magical education. Making a mental note to ask Hermione how it was done,-_

"Oh, looked like Harry's got a girlfriend." Sirius said in mock voice.

Lily smiled, but rolled her eyes. "Or just a girl who happens to be a very good friend."

"Being a Potter, that's not likely." Remus smiled with a small twitch of his mouth, indicating he found this quite amusing.

"Hey, why is everyone insisting that just because he looks like James mean's he's just like him, I gave some genes to you know." She huffed, crossing her arms. "If I remember correctly your parents, James, said that they didn't know where you got your ego from. So that, obviously, isn't a trait in the Potter home."

James muttered something under his breath that made Lily raise her eyebrows.

"WHAT, was that?" She said, her voice reaching a dangerous level.

James tried to smile innocently and said, "I love you...?"

"Aw.." Lily said, fluttering her lashes. Then, when he thought he had gotten away with it, she smacked him on the head.

"OY! What in bloody hell was that for?" He whined, rubbing his head.

"Cause it was a load of shit." Lily concluded, and continued reading.

_he used a large wad of toilet paper to mop up as much tea as he could, before returning to his bedroom and slamming the door behind him._

_Harry had spent the morning completely emptying his school trunk for the first time since he had packed it six years ago. At the start of the intervening school years, he had merely skimmed off the topmost three quarters of the contents and replaced or updated them, leaving a layer of general debris at the bottom- old quills, desiccated beetle eyes, single socks that no longer fit. Minuets previously, Harry had plunged his hand into the mulch, experiencing a stabbing pain in his forth finger of his right hand, and withdrew to see a lot of blood._

"Ouch." Sirius commented.

"Though that does sound like James, you know, about the trunk, remember when he found that-" Though Remus never finished that sentence because James had thrown a pillow so hard that Remus, in surprise, pushed his feet off the table, tipping the chair backwards, earning much laughter from James and Sirius while Lily helped him up.

"Honestly," Lily said, though her mouth was twitching. Remus was still clutching the pillow as his chair was pushed up, his hair was everywhere in turn, and his face was still in shock.

Then the wave of events began to settle in his brain and he chucked back the pillow, just as hard, hitting James right in the face.

"That will teach you." Remus said, straitening his hair, James was about the throw the pillow when Lily cast him a stern, hard glance, then he lowered the pillow to much disappointment.

_He now proceeded a little more cautiously, Kneeling down beside the trunk again, he groped around in the bottom and, after retrieving an old badge that flickered feebly between support CEDRIC DIGGORY and POTTER STINKS, _

"OY!" James yelled loudly, but Lily shh'ed him and kept reading.

_a cracked and worn-out sneak-o-scope, and a gold locket inside which a note signed R.A.B had been hidden, he finally discovered the sharp edge that had done the damage. He recognized it at once. It was a two-inch-long fragment of the enchanted mirror that his dead-_

Lily looked up, her brow furrowed, which usually happened when she was upset about something and unable to finished the sentence.

James carefully pried the book out of Lily's hands and finished the sentence for her.

_-that his dead godfather, Sirius, had given to him._

Everyone was looking at Sirius who was staring at the book in shock. "I...Died?" He said, more questionable than fact. "But, how? When?"

James, shook his head, "It doesn't say."

"Well it can't have been to long ago, I mean, I gave him the mirror." Sirius stated, remembering the enchanted mirror mentioned.

"During his Hogwarts years, but why? Why did you give him our mirrors?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Hell if I know, but why did he break it? Did I get him mad or something?"

James in turned shrugged. "I'm sure it was an accident, but Lily, please keep reading." He said, handing the book back to a tearful Lily. Lily nodded with a watery smile and continued.

_Harry laid it aside and felt cautiously around the trunk for the rest, but nothing more remained of his godfather's last gift except powdered glass, which clung to the deepest layer of debris like glittering grit._

_Harry sat up and examined the jagged piece on which he had cut himself, seeing nothing but his own bright green eye reflected back at him. Then he placed the fragment on top that morning's Daily Prophet, which lay unread on the bed, and attempted to stem the sudden upsurge of bitter memories, the stabs of regret and of longing the discovery of the broken mirror had occasioned, by attacking the rest of the rubbish in the trunk._

Lily paused, looking up to see if anyone would comment, when no one did, she sighed and continued on with the next paragraph.

_It took another hour to empty it completely, throw away the useless items, and sort the remainder in piles according to whether or not he would need them from now on. His school and Quiddech robes, -_

"YES! I KNEW HE WOULD PLAY QUIDDECH!" James said, getting up and punching the air with his fist. Him and Sirius high fiveing, completely forgetting that Sirius would die in a few years time.

Lily threw a pillow at them, "SHUT UP AND LET ME READ!"

Naturally, they quieted.

_cauldron, parchment, quills, and most of his textbooks were piled in a corner, to be left behind._

"Wait, he isn't going back to Hogwarts?" Remus said, straitening up in his chair.

"Looks like, but then what IS he going to do." James said, looking puzzled, "You don't think he's running away from Voldemort, do you?"

"Or going after..."Sirius said. Everyone looked up in surprise.

"Sirius, don't even kid around about that, Voldemort would kill him if he got within 2 miles of him." Lily said, looking wide eyed.

"Well Voldemort wants Harry, and it would make sense if Harry posed as a threat, right?"

"Sirius, full grown men have died from Voldemort, Harry, 17 year old Harry, isn't a threat." James said, not wanting to believe that is son, already wanted by Voldemort, was posing as a threat to the most feared wizard of all time.

"Okay, "Sirius said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Fine, Lil's keep reading."

_He wondered what his aunt and uncle would do with them;-_

"Where are we!" James said, "We haven't been mentioned at all! What about, His parents were off saving the world and had dumped him at the Dursley's because it was the safest place available, what about us!"

"James," Lily breathed, she too had wondered this, but James was the first one to say anything about it.

"No, something had to have happened to us Lil's, because I would never, EVER, dump my kid on their door step. Never. No matter what."

Remus looked down, not wanting to say what had jumped to his lips. "Lily, could you please read on?"

Lily nodded slowly.

_burn them in the dead of night, probably, as if they were the evidence of some dreadful crime. His muggle clothing, Invisibility Cloak _("YES! He got the cloak!") _potion-making kit, certain books, the photography album Hagrid had once given to him, a stack of letters, and his wand had been repacked into an old rucksack. In a front pocket were the Marauder's Map-_

The Three men high fived, making Lily look up.

"What?" Sirius asked. "He has the Map and the Cloak, the ultimate mischief packaged deal."

"Yah, We are merely celebrating." Remus said, shrugging, Making Lily roll her eyes.

_and the locket signed R.A.B._

"Who is this guy anyway, they keep mentioning it." James asked.

Sirius shook his head. "I keep thinking of my brother, but I doubt it is him. Harry wouldn't have a thing of his. Regulus was private of his possessions."

James nodded. "Remember when we tried to break into his room the one time, he nearly blew himself up."

"Well whatever the case may be, I want to know what's going on with Harry, not Regulus." Lily stated firmly, then she read on.

_inside it. The locket was accorded this place of honor not because it was valuable- in all usual senses it was worthless- but because of what it had cost to attain it._

"Wait, what does that mean, that it cost him money, what?" Sirius asked.

Remus only shook his head. "It's worthless, so why would you pay for something of such a high cost for something so useless, I think Harry means that it cost him something dear, something or someone close to him. Just for the locket."

Sirius shrugged. "Whatever, Lil's if you would so kindly read on."

Lily cleared her throat and read on.

_This left a sizable stack of newspapers sitting on his desk beside his snowy owl, Hedwig: one for each of the days Harry had spent at Privet Drive this summer._

James let out a low growl but Lily smacked him on the arm and kept reading, finding it odd they still weren't mentioned.

_He got up off the floor, stretched, and moved across to his desk. Hedwig made no movement as he began to flick through the newspapers, throwing them onto the rubbish pike one by one. The owl was asleep, or else faking; she was angry with Harry about the limited amount of time she was allowed out of her cage at the moment. _

"Well if Voldemort's after him, messages would be unwise, obviously." Remus said, nodding with pride. "Harry's a smart kid, he knows better than to let Hedwig out, no need for Voldemort to know of his unknown plans.

Lily nodded, but no one talked further, they wanted to know just what Harry was up to.

_As he neared the bottom of the pike of newspapers, Harry slowed down, searching for one particular issue that he knew had arrived shortly after he had returned-_

James choked, "Returned, what does he mean _Returned_?"

Lily sighed, "I don't know James, can I please just read?"

James' hard gaze seemed to soften and he nodded, taking a deep breath.

_to Privet Drive for the summer; he remember that there had been a small mention on the front about the resignation of Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts. At last he found it. Turning to page ten, he sank into his desk chair and reread the article he has been looking for. _

Lily stopped.

"What is it Lil's?" James said.

Lily frowned as she read.

_Albus Dumbledore Remembered_

"Albus died?" Remus said, shocked. "I never...I...wow..."

Sirius ran his hand over his face. "Is it just me or his this book just full of deaths and depression?"

"Isn't called the Deathly Hallows for nothing mate." James said sadly.

"James, you don't think Harry will die...do you?" Lily asked, worried.

"It's a sizable book Lily, I'm sure Voldemort won't kill him..." Remus said, offering comfort, though he didn't know what to think, after all, the last page could be explaining life after Harry...but Remus didn't wish to think about it.

Lily smiled sadly at these words. "Well do you all want to learn about the Life of Albus Dumbledore? Or what? Cause if I do read this, no talking!"

Everyone nodded and so Lily read on about the Life of Albus Dumbledore, no one talked, for it was a very long article, so they sat quietly and listened.

When Lily finally finished, everyone remained quiet.

"Wow." Remus said slowly. "I never knew."

"Me either, but then again, we never knew much of him, did we?" James said, looking at everyone who were shaking their heads.

"Well come on, we're back to Harry." Lily said, then she read on about her boy who's life up to this point, she had never known to be hell.

_Harry finished reading but continued to gaze at the picture accompanying the obituary. Dumbledore was wearing his familiar, kindly smile, but as he peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles, he gave the impression, even in newsprint, of X-raying Harry,-_

Everyone laughed.

"Yes, he tends to do that often." Remus chuckled.

"He always did that to me and Prongs, he seemed to always know it was us." Sirius laughed.

Lily only smiled.

_whose sadness mingled with a sense of humiliation. _

"Sounds like him and Dumbledore were close." Remus surveyed.

"Well with Voldemort after him, I can only guess why." James nodded in agreement.

_He had though he knew Dumbledore quite well, but ever since reading this obituary he has been forced to recognize that he had barely known him at all. Never once had he imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Harry had know him, venerable and silver-haired and old._

Everyone laughed, for that seemed to be the image that everyone had of him.

Lily kept reading on once everyone had calmed down.

_The idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd., like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-ended Skrewt._

"Hermione is mentioned twice now." Sirius pointed out, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well she must be smart, seeing as a stupid Hermione was hard to imagine." Lily said with a small glare, but also a small smile.

"Come on Lil's, your thinking the same thing." Sirius said, a small sparkle in his eyes.

"Am not, but I for one want to know about my son and if you will kindly shut that mouth of yours, I will be able to read in peace."

Sirius rolled his eye's, but did not elaborate.

_He had never thought to ask Dumbledore about his past. No doubt it would have felt strange, impertinent even, but after all, it had been common knowledge that Dumbledore had taken part in that legendary duel with Grindelwald, and Harry had not thought to ask Dumbledore what that had been like, nor about any of his other famous achievements_

"Well your not really the only one squirt." James muttered.

"Yah, I mean, name someone who actually did." Remus nodded, offering little help to the Harry in the book even though Harry could not hear him.

Lily shrugged it off, not really caring.

_No, they had always discussed Harry, Harry's past, Harry's future, Harry's plans..._

"Whoa, Voldemort must be dead set on getting to Harry...but why?" Sirius said, looking startled at what had just been read.

Lily wasn't concerned about that right now, what had caught her attention, was the word past. Obviously, it had caught James' as well.

"What do you mean _past."_ He said. _"_What do you mean his plans, his future. Why does Voldemort want my son so badly!" He said, angered by the fact that his son was wanted for some unknown reason and that, still, they had not been mentioned. Not _once._

"James, calmed down. What ever reason it may be, Harry made it this far, if he got this far, than...he'll go even farther, trust me, there's nothing to worry about." Lily soothed. But she hardly believed her own words, something still itched at the back of her mind.

James looked at his wife, who was staring at the top of the page. With a sigh he sat down, waving at her to continue.

With a small look, she obliged and continued.

_and it seemed to Harry now, despite the fact that his future was so dangerous and so uncertain._

James opened his mouth to comment angrily, but stopped at a glare from his wife.

_that he had missed irreplaceable opportunities when he had failed to ask Dumbledore more about himself, even though the only personal question he had ever asked his headmaster was also the only one he suspected the Dumbledore had not answered honestly:_

"_What do you see when you look into the mirror?"_

"_I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."_

Everyone laughed at this, the increasing tension eased slightly.

"What mirror?" Remus questioned as the laughing slowly stopped.

Everyone shrugged, not really caring, that is, except Remus.

_After several minuets' thought, Harry tore the obituary out of the Prophet, folded it carefully, and tucked it inside the first volume of Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against Dark Arts. _

Remus smiled, "I remember reading that book."

All his reply was, was two pillows being thrown at him, and a rolling of eyes from his best friends.

"Moony, you've read _every _book." Sirius said with another roll of his eye's as 'Moony' took a defensive tone.

"Just stuff it mate, Sirius won." James said with a small smile.

Remus glared and huffed, turning is head away.

_Then he threw the rest if the newspaper onto the rubbish pile and turned to face the room. It was much tidier._

"Yes," James said, holding up his finger, "Because rule number 3 of a being a Potter is such: The Room of a Potter, must never be 'Tidy'. Is such a way of the Potters."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And were, may I ask, are these 'Rules'." She looked at him expectantly as he dug into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and than a piece of old, over folded, rubbish looking paper.

Shoving it under her nose, he showed her. "See! Rule 3: The Room of a Potter, must never be 'Tidy'. Is such the way of the Potters."

Lily merely sniffed in distaste and read on as James sent Sirius a smile that read 'I-won'

_The only things left out of place were today's Daily Prophet, still lying on the bed, and on top of it, the piece of broken mirror. _

_Harry moved across the room, slid the mirror fragment off today's Prophet, and unfolded the newspaper. He merely glanced at the headline when he had taken the rolled-up paper from the delivery owl early that morning and thrown it aside, after noting that it said nothing about Voldemort. _

"Harry really is interested about Voldemort..." Remus trailed off.

Sirius shrugged. "Well in a lunatic was out to get me, I would want to know what he was planning."

Lily furrowed her eyebrows again, this time in confusion. "But Harry DOESN'T know what Voldemort's planning, mainly because now, Voldemort knows what HE'S planning. "

Everyone didn't looked happy that the fact had been stated.

"Well, I'm sure that the Order does, so I'm positive that they are right now, in the book of course, planning something new. I bet my life on it." Remus said, nodding in commitment on this thought.

Everyone took this as a wary comment, seeing a number of gaping holes in this theory, but did not give word on what they each thought.

_Harry was sure the Ministry was leaning on the Prophet to suppress news about Voldemort. It was only now, therefore, that he saw what he had missed._

_Across the bottom half of the front page a small headline was set over a picture of Dumbledore striding along looking harried:_

"Uhg" Lily said, rolling her eye's.

"What?" James said, looking over at the book.

"Another article."

Remus nodded. "Read it quickly, no one will make comments."

Lily nodded and read on hastily. When she finished...

"That witch is STILL around?" Sirius scoffed.

"I thought she'd be dead by then, with everything she posts. You would think that someone would have gotten fed up."

Lily shook her head in Pity. "Obviously not."

_Harry ripped open the paper and found page thirteen. The article was topped with a picture showing another familiar face: a women wearing jeweled glasses with elaborately curled blonde hair, her teeth bared in what was clearly suppose to be a winning smile, wiggling her fingers up at him. _

"Hasn't changed much has she?" James said, disgusted.

Lily shook her head.

_Doing his best to ignore the nauseating image,-_

James and Sirius laughed.

Sirius smiled. "A true Potter."

_Harry read on._

"ANOTHER article." Lily sighed.

Remus shook his head in annoyance to the book. "Keep reading."

Everyone had stayed quiet for a good portion of the time, that is until one particular paragraph.

"_Oh yes," says Skeeter, nodding briskly, "I devoted an entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore Relationship.-_

Sirius' eyes turned to slits as he glared at the innocent hard covered book.

Remus, weary that the book would burst into flames, cleared his throat. "Um, Padfoot?" Scooting a safe distance away as the dog Animagus glared at the book in Lily's lap. He let out a low growl, resembling a dog even as his human self. "I really do hate that bitch."

"Padfoot, calm down..." Remus said, scooting farther away as Padfoot continued to glare at the helpless, **very** flammable, book.

Sirius growled. "No one mess' with my godson." He continued to glare at the book, and if you looked real closely, you could almost swear it was looking for an escape.

Despite the fact of the nervous book and His best friend glaring at it, James felt touched. Sirius was acting like Harry was his own son, not his best friends' son. In spite of the situation, James smiled. He had hoped that Sirius would feel like part of the family, now he knew just how much Sirius did. Sirius loved Harry as much as him, or Lily, and that meant a lot to James. It was nice to know that he would be there for Harry, when him, and Lily couldn't be; That Harry had someone else to turn to if something happened to them.

He gave Padfoot a look. Sirius glared at him for a moment, then promptly gave a heavy sigh. "Fine, Lily im sorry, would you continue to read?"

Exchanging a glance between the two friends, Lily sighed and picked up where they had left off.

Everyone was silent, knowing how Lily was when she got interrupted. However there were exchanged glares between the Maraurder's as they silently planned their revenge

With a huff Lily finished the long article. She really did hate Skeeter, more so now than before.

Looking up, Lily watched as the boys nodded at each other, than realized Lily had finished and was now staring at them with a curious expression.

James was the first to speak. "Don't worry Lil's, It's no big deal."

She sighed. He knew her to well. "What are you 3 going to do now?" She said, raising her eyebrows at him. Of course, she already knew the correct answer, James wasn't about to sit back and let their son be made a fool, even if it was in their sons supposed future.

"Lil's, we weren't up to no good, I Solemnly Swear it!" He said, raising his right hand.

Lily scoffed. The Maraurder's, not up to no good, that was almost laughable. Lily gave up on the matter that she would sort later, right now, the book was her main concern.

She didn't catch the extremely relieved glance her husband sent his friends.

"James, What's the Triwizard Tournament?" Lily said, looking up from the book she had been getting ready to read.

James, who had expected a full out lecture on how not to lie to her, relaxed and shrugged. "A tournament held a while back. A really dangerous tournament. A lot of people have died in it. Its held between 3 schools, the school holding it, provides space for students from other schools to stay and provides places for the 3 tasks. One student participates from each school. The Student that wins at the end of the year is given the Triwizard cup and 1000 galleons, why?" He looked at her just in time to see her face whiten.

"Because...Well, Harry was in it."

Sirius sat up and stared at her. "Impossible, they banned it." He said, slicing the air with his hand in a disbelieving way.

Lily shook her head, reciting the line.

Remus whistled low. "Well, At least Harry got through it."

Lily looked back down at the book. "This reporter asked Rita if she believes if Harry was there when Dumbledore died...James you don't think he was...do you?"

James shook his head, he hoped not. If Harry was there when Dumbledore died, it must have been horrible. It sounded like him and Harry were close, and to lose someone that close... He shook his head again. "I'm sure he didn't Lily. I'm sure he didn't."

No one believed his lie.

Lily sighed, "Come on, lets move on with this book."

_Harry reached the bottom of the article, but continued to stare blankly at the page. Revulsion and fury rose in him like vomit; he balled up the newspaper and threw it, with all his force, at the wall, where it joined the rest of the rubbish heaped around his overflowing bin._

"Appears Harry hate's Rita to." Remus said, trying to lighten up the mood.

Sirius smiled. "It's the way of the Potters."

Lily smiled, but kept on reading.

_He began to stride blindly around the room, opening empty drawers and picking up books only to replace them on the same piles, barely conscious of what he was doing, as random phrases from Rita's article echoed in his head: _An entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship...It's been called unhealthy, even sinister...He dabbled in the Dark Arts himself in his youth...I've had access to a source most journalists would swap their wands for...

"_Lies!" Harry bellowed,-_

"Nasty Woman she is..." Remus said, shaking his head in shame.

"And Harry thinks so to..." James nodded in agreement.

"I can't believe Rita would tell such things, so many lies in one sitting." Lily sighed.

"Well as long as Harry doesn't believe that witch, I'm fine with it." Sirius said blindly, how he would love to get his hands on Skeeter's bony little neck...

"Come on," Lily said, her voice cutting through the thick atmosphere, "We're almost done with the chapter."

_-and through the window he saw the next-door neighbor, who had paused to restart his lawn mower, look up nervously._

_Harry sat down hard on the bed. The broken bit of mirror danced away from him; he picked it up and turned it over in his fingers, thinking, thinking of Dumbledore and the lies with which Rita Skeeter was defaming him..._

_A flash of brightest blue._

"What?" All four of them questioned , confused. For the sake of it, Lily re-read the small sentence.

James, Remus, and Sirius looked at each other, once more, silently communicating. All of them knew what the mirror could do, but could it possibly still work when broken?

Lily took no notice of this and read on, earning back the attention of the 3 wary boys.

-_Harry froze, his cut finger slipping on the jagged edge of the mirror again._

"Ouch"

_He had imagined it, he must have done. He glanced over his shoulder, but the wall was a sickly peach color of Aunt Petunia's choosing:-_

Lily stopped as James tensed in anger besides her. She sighed and placed a hand on his knee lightly. She knew that they should have been mentioned by now, but she had to show faith, for both of them.

He placed his hand over hers and gently took it in his own. With a small squeeze, he nodded his consent for her to continue reading.

_-There was nothing blue there for he mirror to reflect. He peered into the mirror fragment again, and saw nothing but his own bight green eye looking back at him._

_He had imagined it, there was no other explanation; imagined it, because he had been thinking of his dead headmaster. If anything was certain, it was that the bright blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore would never pierce him again. _

"That's it." Lily stated quietly.

Sirius huffed as he placed his elbows on his knees and took his face in his hands. "This book makes me depressed."

Remus chuckled. "Having to read books usually does make Padfoot here depressed."

James and Lily sniggered in amusement, whilst Sirius only smirked. "Fine, than I suppose I'll just have to prove you wrong. I'm reading next." He said, poking himself in the chest. He winced and the group laughed once more.

Lily, still smiling, handed the book over. "Be my guest."

Sirius, in his haste, dropped the book, losing its placing.

"Oops."

--

**There's chapter 2!! Anyway, click that review button, and well...review!! Love it? Hate it? Well than guess what...I need to know. haha. Anyway next chapter will be...um...next week on Friday?? Sound good?? Wells, BYE!!**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! Next Friday probably won't work for me, but how about Saturday or Sunday? I apologize, yes, the chapters are already written, but I want to get a head start on the other chapters so you're not waiting for months. Please review! Oh, and please vote on the poll on my profile page, it will decide the outcome of the future chapters!**


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